Hey All,

I just wanted to say -

MERRY CHRISTMAS,
HAPPY HOLIDAYS,
MERRY KWANZA,
HAPPY HANUKKA,
And any others I forgot...

You get the idea.

John W

Nothing interesting happened this week, unless you think illegal wiretaps by the President and the defeat of the "Patriot" act were interesting. Firstly, President Bush and his staff has been CAUGHT AGAIN doing things illegally and unethically. He doesn't seem to thing the laws of America apply to him. That's funny - because one of his main duties is to uphold the Laws and Constitution of the United States. Happily, The Senate spanked him by not extending the Patriot act (Thought I'm not sure what is "Patriotic" about it). President Bush needs to learn that there are laws in the United States for things and he, as well as you and I, need to follow those laws.

And I wanted to point to two important issues, one of the loss of ethics in politics and one on Congressional redistricting and the constitutionality of partisan redistricting.

Otherwise I got sent a couple of links of interest. One is a site "mediamatters.org" that takes a leftish look at the media and hot topics. And lastly, go to "jibjab.com" and check out their VERY FUNNY end of the year video.

I am planning on a weekly update for a bit. Later, when next years elections start to rumble in the summer, I will do more, and with more focus. But there are still important things happening.

The biggest this week was the tax cuts for investments vs cuts in Medicair, Food Stamps and child care services. Both of these events balanced each other. So there was no gain for the federal deficit, only a loss for the poor and a gain for the very rich. I cannot speak for others, but the rich don't need more money. And trickle down economics (voodoo economics) doesn't seem to work very well in the current "win at all cost" American climate. We need a cultural change to a more compassionate culture.

Also, I found these two interesting "local" political sites. The first www.soundpolitics.com is a rightish look at the political events in Seattle. The other, Frank Sennet's "The Alternative source" is a independent web site/web radio broadcast with some Spokane info. Also see Frank's "Hard7" for more info. Check them both out.

We went to see "Good night and Good Luck", Directed by George Clooney, this weekend. The movie is about the public battle that Edward R Murrow (of WSU fame) had with Joseph Mccarthy, the noted Bully and Communist hunter in the 1950's. I strongly recommend everyone see it. It's an excellent look at the politics of fear and how "fearmongers" push the public in dangerious directions. I think you will see many parallels with the current political situation. I hope to buy it on DVD when it comes out if anyone wants to see it.

THE REST OF THE WEEK - The other interesting development is the rash of bribery and fraud charges against Politicians like San Diego's Duke Cunningham. This is horribly wrong and very unacceptable. And sadly it looks like just the beginning.

LASTLY - Check out CBS's new "PUBLIC EYE" web site. They are trying to open the doors on how the Media really works - an odd but interesting idea.

This is another example of the cost/wage problems that we are facing in this country. People need to understand that there is X amount of money to spend on the problems and needs of government. When you spend too much on one thing, other things suffer. These are an example of the out-of-control wages and overtime paid to Seattle deputies. I'm sure they are good guys, but we can not afford this kind of wage structure.

It would be great if everyone could make bunches of money. Everyone's work is really worth something. What exactly is the question that is asked lately. Your basic worker is worth something. Your expert worker is worth something. In government, I think it's fair that workers will not, nor should not make as much as in the private sector. The public sector is for the good of all of us. The seattle times has a great article on how the Seattle city council IS OVERPAID. They cannot spin it any other way. It leads to questions about how Spokane and the rest of America wants to pay public workers.
Here is what the rest of us deal with.

Looking for more Good men, we find an old President not happy with the new President. Jimmy Carter has been on the circuit lately with an agenda of "less Religion" in our government. These are Odd and Interesting idea's coming from a Religious Fundamentalist.

HOW BUSINESS WANTS CAPITALISM EXCEPT WHEN THEY FAIL - The latest in corporate and political hypocrisy is the bailout of private pension plans. When a giant corporation goes into bankruptcy, they sometimes count on the tax payer to bail out the plan. Much like the Savings and Loan scandals of the 80's, business in under funding and counting on you and I to fix it when the piper comes due. Make corporations do the hard work.

Bernie Sanders is a INDEPENDENT Senator from Vermont. Bernie isn't beholden to the right or left. I like that.

I am trying to be positive, but they keep hitting me with bad news. Why can't we read about how things are going well for the working, middle class. Here are some of the annoying latest bits - This article is a look at the French "underclass" and the problems that Paris is facing. Here is a look at how your paycheck is worth less this year because of inflation. And a fine article on expensive and less effective American health care. Lastly, here is an article about the FISCAL RUIN OF THE UNITED STATES! Now I think that sounds really bad. Not Good.

I have been spending the last week getting the web site ready for the next phase. It is going to be set up so that anyone can sign up and become a member by themselves. It will also have forum's, newsletters and, calendars and information area's that people can use to organize there own efforts. ON THE NEWS FRONT- Happily the Harriet Meirs affair has come to an end. Did I call that or what?? Weirdly, it was the Republicans putting the breaks on her nomination. In other Bush News, Scooter Libby was indicted for perjury. Interestingly, some people think some lies are OK and some are bad. I guess it depends on if you like the liar.

Government spending is out of control and we cannot start to fix the problems of America till the government starts trying to control spending, properly allocated resources (see homeland security example), creates some form of accountability and treats your taxes like "real money" (see pentagon example). You have the right to expect better. See Citizens against government waste and factcheck.org for more information.

We had an initial meeting this week and tried to make some decisions. We do want to create a grassroots political party for regular, moderate people. Some of the initial meeting are in the previous link. I also am going to run for some public office. I want to do this to try to see if a regular person can get into the current political system.

This week comes the results of Katrina, bad economic policy, corrupt government contracts and poor Federal debt. Inflation is at a twenty five year high. High energy prices, with high profits for energy companies are eating away at the American middle class. Regular wages do not keep up, and have not kept up for years. Do you want an America that promotes reckless spending over saving and healthy fiscal plans?

Road rage, theater cell phones, the finger, angry old people, angry young people - What has happened to good manners? When I was younger, we tried to be respectful of our elders, said please and thank you, hold the door for others, and generally were encouraged to be polite. Now it seems like no one tries to be courteous. And nothing is safe from theft anymore (like my ugly blue bike that someone stole this week). We need to start taking responsibility for our problems and teaching our youth that it's OK (and even cool) to be polite.